On the line: Mogadore football success connected closely to Larry 'Big Cat' Murphy

Wednesday

Sep 13, 2017 at 8:55 PMSep 14, 2017 at 6:56 AM

By Tom NaderSports Editor

For 43 years, it has been football in the fall for Larry Murphy.

Starting from his days as a 6-year-old youth player for the Mogadore Wildcats to his coaching career that has now spanned 27 years, Murphy and football have always come one right after the other.

That kind of longevity begins with a love for the game, an appreciation of the relationships and enthusiasm that fuels the desire to return to the gridiron each season.

To have a career as long as Murphy’s, though, you have to be good at your job.

Few love and appreciate the game more than Murphy, who is affectionately known as “Big Cat.”

And you would be challenged to find a better line coach than Murphy.

He is comfortable talking about his love of the game and the people close to him that have made his career a reality, but shies away from anything that shines the spotlight directly on himself.

Mogadore football head coach Matt Adorni did that for him.

“Larry is amazing,” Adorni said. “He is a tremendous value to our football program. Every single day, he makes an impact with our players. There is just no way that our football team would have had the success it’s had without Larry. The win-loss record sits next to my name, but I would be nowhere without him. Nowehere.”

Adorni is now in his 14th year leading the Wildcats and owns a career record of 132-32, which ranks second all-time for most wins, trailing only Norm Lingle (150-53-1 from 1974-91).

Murphy, who originally began his coaching career at Akron Springfield, where he is a work-experience teacher, is the only coach on staff that has been alongside Adorni for all of his 14 years as head coach.

And for good reason.

Back when Adorni was preparing to be the 12th head coach in the 100-year-plus history of the Wildcats, his top priority was to secure a great line coach.

His mind went directly to one person: Larry “Big Cat” Murphy.

“I remember the first time I talked to Larry about the idea,” Adorni said. “We were at a random playoff game at Canal Fulton. I had known him personally, and I knew his philosophies matched my philosophies for on and off the field.”

Murphy graduated from Mogadore in 1986, just a few years ahead of Adorni (Class of 1992), whose older brother played alongside Murphy.

Both Murphy and Adorni were offensive linemen for the Wildcats and both, out of chance, wore No. 51.

Both Murphy and Adorni were coached by the revered Ruf Pierce, whose techniques and blocking ideologies are still deeply rooted in Mogadore football to this day.

And if you know anything about Mogadore football, then you know how deeply rooted the Murphy family tradition is as well.

Paul Murphy, Tom Murphy, Mike Murphy.

All are legends to the Wildcat faithful and only offer a glimpse into the historical contributions the family has given Mogadore, especially considering the family tree links into the Tompkins and Pierce families.

All of them have had a profound impact on Mogadore football, but their overwhelming influence on Cat Murphy is what continues to push him forward. It challenges him to be better and it harbors his feeling of love and emotion for his town, team, school and players past and present.

Murphy still credits three men in his life that helped him decide who he wanted to be and what he wanted to do: Mogadore football head coach Norm Lingle, Mogadore youth football coach Bill Rosato and Mogadore principal Tom Murphy, who is Larry’s uncle.

“I wanted to be just like them,” said Murphy, who played college football at Hiram and then became a graduate assistant at Kent State under Dick Crum. “I loved those three guys, and I wanted to have the jobs they had.”

Now that Murphy has the coaching and academic careers he had always dreamed of, he is still somewhat astounded by it all.

“I am living a dream job,” he said. “I am doing what I had always wanted to do. I wake up every single morning and get to live a dream. I love teaching at Springfield, the kids there are amazing. I would never want to teach anywhere else. And I love coaching at Mogadore, the kids are so special. I would never want to coach anywhere else.”

Murphy coaches with an attention to detail and a determined approach that pushes players to their brink at times, but is understood and respected because Murphy has shown time and time again that he cares about his players off the field.

“We don’t always have the biggest and fastest kids on our line, but we make up for it with our technique,” Murphy said. “We want to block to perfection. We don’t zone block, we put weight on our hands and move forward. We do every drill to the whistle. We walk through step 1 and back, step 1 and 2 and back, to the point that the players are probably bored to death, but that is what we have to do to be the best we can be.”

It is a commitment Murphy has dedicated himself to for the sake of his student-athletes and to uphold the legacy of those that came before him, like those he sees in the stands every Friday night.

His wife Paula, who cooks food and bakes cookies for the coaching staff and for the team’s weekly Linemen Meals.

His mother Cheryl and father Larry, who still watches the game through a set of binoculars and peers through them to specifically watch the line and then offer critique to his son during postgame discussions.

His Grandpa Hammitt, 92 and a World War II veteran, who is as big of a Mogadore fan as you will find.

Those are the people that Murphy likes to talk about most, just like he is long winded when he talks about his players, fellow coaches and mentors.

It’s been that way for 43 years.

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